So, how do we buy a car in Iwakuni? It's not any different than buying a car in any other part of Japan. First, you'd have to locate the car of your dreams. You can slap your cash on the table and give them your awesome autograph on the dotted lines. But before you can take home your dream car, you should have a place to park it. There is no "on street" parking in Japan, so the actual first thing is to have a lot space for your dream car. In Japan, police permission is required to purchase a car. They want to be sure you're not leaving your car on the streets, hence the small roads. We all know there's barely any space on the roads already; and they can't have your amazing car taking up anymore space no matter how much you'd want everyone to see it.
Once you've obtained your parking letter from the owner of your home or from the rental office of your apartment, you can then head to the police office and receive your parking sticker. Fair warning, it could take up to a week to receive it; sometimes less. After receiving that sticker, it's off to the dealership to get your dream car. In all honesty, it does take a bit of running around to get things in order. Plus, if you can't speak the language here, goodluck with getting anything done in a timely fashion. You may need to hire a translator to help you fill out some documents or speak to the locals.
If you were to find your dream car at Iwakuni Used Car, you wouldn't have to concern yourself with running around with papers. The only thing you'd have to worry about is getting the documents from your rental office or the owner of your house. If you live on base, you will have to bring the title of the vehicle to PMO and receive a "packet" which will give us power of attorney of your car. We can then proceed to convert everything to your name. That includes: Road tax, Title change, Y-plates, JCI and vehicle recycle. Also, at the same time we will obtain primary insurance on your car. At the same time, you can head to an insurance company of your choice(Chubbs Insurance on base is a popular choice). We will take care of the rest of the paperwork along with running to the police station (If you're living off base). If you live on base, there is no reason to run to the police station or receive any papers from your rental home. People living on base will only have to register their cars on base. So, the process is more simple.
Steps for buying a car on your own:
- Have a parking space / consult your home owner or rental office on what type of car
- Receive "letter of permission" to park
- Go to dealership to choose vehicle of interest
- Head to the police station to recieve parking sticker
- Head to dealership and purchase your car
- Go to City Hall and convert title
- Go to Shinfornia to pay for road tax
- Obtain the vehicle recycle for the vehicle
- Get JCI inspection( you may need to have your car towed because you will need to get your car to a JCI mechanic shop
- Go to PMO to register vehicle
Before you can register your car on base, you must have: Title in your name, Paid road tax, Insurance, correct license plates for base entry and JCI inspection.
Steps for buying a car at Iwakuni Used Car:
- Come to the dealership and choose a car
- With vehicle title, go to rental office and receive parking letter
- Go to PMO with vehicle title and receive "packet" that give us power of attorney
- Obtain secondary insurance
- Bring packet and parking letter to dealership
- Dealership finishes the rest.
In comparison, the process is significantly decreased when buying a car through our dealership.
Also, the turnover rate is around 1 week if you're living on base and roughly 2 weeks if you're living off base; and thats due to having to wait for the police to confirm your parking arrangement with your home owner.
It is a tedious process if you're trying to buy a car on your own-- especially if you're not versed in the Japanese language. You can save yourself the trouble by allowing Iwakuni Used Car to do the running around for you. It's our pleasure!